Getting Preschooler to eat vegetables and healthy food can be a tall order for most parents and teachers. In our Childcare Centre, some of young ones do not like to take vegetables and hence there were lots of food wastage. To solve the problem, our N1, K1 and K2 children embarked on a project to reduce food wastage in our centre. First we introduced the Healthy plate and get children to learn the names of different types of vegetables as well as to sort vegetables into different food groups.
Through this activity children are aware that they need healthy food to keep them strong and healthy. In addition classified various vegetables in different food groups, our children also learnt where food comes from from books, and stories. They have fun with gardening as they planted cucumber and tomatoes seeds and as part of the discovery learning, they put their Science skills into use. They were fascinated as well as delighted when they saw the seeds they had sowed grew into plants and bear fruits. They also learnt that leftover such as skins of some vegetables can be used as fertilizers and there is a machine that cans can convert leftovers to fertilizers and this helps to reduce food wastage.
As children played in the home corners daily, an idea came to them and they suggested to create their own recipe booklets. Together with the teachers, they came up with their own healthy recipes booklets and shared them with their schoolmates and their parents. Besides creating recipe booklet, our young ones also presented food art using various types of tropical fruits. There were also discussions on reasons why we should not waste food but also how to aim for zero waste. Children learnt that they have to take what is enough for them and to appreciate farmers, community helpers and other food providers. As they embarked on this project, they became ambassadors to encourage others not to waste food and to eat healthily.
